by Kim McMahill
As he waited for her to wrap the food, he noticed an old faded map of the area being held down on the counter by a cracked piece of glass.
“¿Donde?” It wasn’t much of a question, but it was the best he could do. The woman seemed to understand and she pointed to a spot on the map. There were no villages noted in that area, so he figured this one was probably too small to show up, but at least he was able to confirm their location.
To Jack, it appeared they were butted up against the Usumacinta River. Faded blue bodies of water dotted the map. As he stared at the maze of rivers and lakes, the oppressive humidity and the presence of malaria in the region made perfect sense. According to the map, they had to be close to Highway 203, which could take them north to Highway 186, and then west to Villahermosa. They could keep working their way north and east, but that would mean crossing the Usumacinta River and he wasn’t convinced that was still the best plan, but he would check out the possibility when he got back to Jessica and Megan.
Jack continued to study the map while watching the street. Out of the corner of his eye, he glimpsed an officer emerging from the police station. He’d wanted to ask the woman more questions, like the name of her village and where, besides the police station, he might find a telephone, but his time had just run out.
He paid her, stowed the purchases in his pockets and loitered just inside the door, hoping the officer would go back into the station or move off in the opposite direction so he could slip from the store. Where the officer stood, it would be impossible for him to exit the small shop through its front door without being noticed.
The officer strode to the edge of the sidewalk and lit a cigarette. The man studied the square as he leisurely puffed and blew out smoke. People moved past the officer quickly, keeping their eyes focused on the ground. Jack suspected this village was ruled with an iron fist by the way the villagers interacted with law enforcement and after witnessing the cordial relationship between the police and criminals.
Jack glanced back at the woman behind the counter. Her eyes darted from him to the officer and back. She fidgeted and he could tell he was making her nervous. When she realized Jack was watching her, she slipped into the back of the shop. Jack quickly followed her out the back door and grabbed her shoulder before she could turn the corner. He placed his finger to his lips and pulled another bill out of his pocket. She eyed him suspiciously, but finally grabbed the bill and disappeared inside.
He hoped she wouldn’t go and tell the officer, but suspected she would, probably fearing the law more than the quiet American who had already left her shop and paid her well for her silence. Glancing around, Jack saw no one, so walked off in the opposite direction, leaving the shop behind and moving away from the village square.
Several streets away from the town center he spotted a public water pump. He stopped and pumped the handle until water shot out of the spout. Gathering water in his cupped hands, Jack splashed his face, scrubbing at the grime in the process, then threw several scoops over his head and drank his fill. He wanted to save all the store-bought water for Jessica and Megan.
As he rubbed his face dry with the tail of his shirt, he heard someone approaching. Jack could tell by the sound of the footsteps that it was an adult trying to be quiet. He pretended he didn’t hear the nearing footsteps and continued to rub his face.
Just as a hand reached out to him, Jack spun around, grabbed the outstretched arm, twisted it behind the man’s back and had him face down in the dirt before a sound could be uttered. With only a brief glimpse, Jack instantly recognized him as one of the kidnappers who had taken them from the ruins.
Jack placed his knee in the man’s back and pressed hard to the ground, making it difficult for the guy to breathe much less yell for help. The man struggled but was helpless in the prone position. With one hand, Jack found a spot on his neck and applied enough pressure to make their former kidnapper black out. He stared at the stilled form for a minute. Anger raged through him when he thought of Ashley and the temptation to extract revenge was overwhelming¾the instinct to finish the job was almost more than he could refuse. Jack battled to push back the dark thoughts filling his head and fought to think rationally.
His breathing was ragged and fury clouded his mind. Squeezing his eyes shut, Jack saw the pleading look in Ashley’s eyes and he could hear her screams and the hoarse laughter of the men assaulting her, though he knew the sounds were not real. He could easily kill the unresponsive body beneath him, but it would only make matters worse. The guy deserved to suffer and die for his part in Ashley’s death, but that wouldn’t bring her back, he could only protect Megan and Jessica and he needed to get back to them quickly.
Jack had seen too much death in his thirty-four years of life¾some was the natural result of living, but most had come at his own hand or at the hands of others. He would do it again if he had to, but he wished somehow they could find a way out of this mess without him having to kill anyone, though he doubted it would be possible.
He regained normal breathing and cleared his mind of distractions, focusing on the task at hand. Jack patted the man’s pockets, but felt no wallet or weapon. He considered flipping him over and doing a more thorough search, certain he must be carrying a weapon, but he had already lingered in the village for too long. Jack glanced around, jumped to his feet and ran. No one had seen what had happened, but the man wouldn’t be out for long and the others were probably close by.
With pockets bulging, Jack darted off into the jungle. He didn’t slow until he reached Jessica and Megan. He was relieved to see Megan was awake and looking almost back to normal and Jessica was alert and holding the gun at the ready for anyone other than Jack.
Chapter Twenty-One
Jessica placed the gun on the ground and leapt to her feet. She raced to Jack, threw her arms around him, and held him so tight she worried she was suffocating him.
He glanced over at Megan and lifted his brows in question. Megan shrugged her shoulders and shook her head. Stroking Jessica’s hair until he felt the tension drain from her body, he tried to ease her back, but she clung to him.
“Hey, you’re smashing my tamales,” he said in a calm tone with a crooked grin on his lips.
She stepped back and she and Megan burst into laughter. Jessica sniffled and wiped a tear away from her eye. She didn’t know why she had reacted so strongly. She was so glad Jack was safe and Jessica had felt an incredible burden of responsibility for Megan’s health and safety lift when she saw him. But now, she was so embarrassed she couldn’t look up.
“So, is that what men call them now days?” Megan joked, her voice small and weak.
Jack stared at her and it took a moment to understand what she was saying, and then the women’s laughter made sense. He stepped away from Jessica and pulled the bundle out of his pocket.
“No. I mean I really have tamales. I bought us some fresh pork tamales.” He thrust the packet toward Jessica, trying to hold back the embarrassment.
Thanks to Megan, the awkwardness vanished, replaced with light humor. Jessica took the bundle from Jack’s hand and went to Megan. She unwrapped one tamale and handed it to her and then unwrapped one for herself.
“Want one?” she asked Jack.
“No thanks. I had two in the shop as the clerk pulled them from the pot, so I could carry more back for you two and still keep my hands free. Pretty tasty, huh?”
Megan and Jessica devoured the tamales and drank from the new water bottle. Jessica felt human again and she could see a little more color creep back into Megan’s complexion. She didn’t look nearly as tired.
Jack shook four chloroquine tablets out of one of the envelopes and handed them to Megan. “Here, take these now. There’s eight more. Take four all at once tomorrow and four the next day. After that, I guarantee you’ll feel much better. I also got you some aspirin for the aches.”
Megan accepted the pills and stowed the envelopes for later. She hated that she’d placed Jack in the positio
n of returning to the village, but the previous night had scared her. For a few hours, Megan thought she might die. On top of fearing death, she had mistaken Jessica for her stepmother and said terrible things to her new friend, but at least she had finally shared her secret with someone who believed her and didn’t judge her.
“Okay, back to you,” Jack said as he turned to face Jessica. “Is something wrong or did you just miss me an awful lot?”
“Oh, that. I was hoping you had already forgotten. I guess I was just relieved to see you. I was so scared you would get caught and we would be on our own, and I had just convinced myself I could actually shoot someone if I had to, but I really didn’t want to.”
“I know. I could have killed one of our friends back there in the village, but I didn’t. He and his buddies had no qualms about brutalizing and murdering Ashley and Gilbert and they wouldn’t hesitate to off any of us, but that still doesn’t make it any easier. I just hope there’s another way out. I’d rather not kill another person if I can help it.”
Under any other circumstance the words, “kill another person,” at the end of a sentence would have terrified her, but the way Jack said it only made her heart ache. He had killed before, but it clearly hadn’t been easy and he obviously hadn’t gotten over it.
Jessica took his hands in hers and turned them over. They were large and rough. He’d carried no weapon, so he obviously could have killed the man with his bare hands. Whenever he touched her, he was so gentle she just couldn’t believe it was possible. Though he had done nothing but try to protect Megan and her, there was clearly much more to Jack than he had shared and she wasn’t sure she wanted to know the rest of his story, but felt the need to truly understand his pain.
Jack smiled at Jessica and pulled his hands away. He could read all the questions in her eyes, but didn’t have the time to explain.
“Megan, are you strong enough to travel?”
“I don’t know. Let me try to stand up.”
Jack and Jessica each took an arm and helped Megan to her feet. Her knees nearly gave out when her friends loosened their grip, but after a few steps she felt strong enough to walk on her own.
“I’m so tired and weak, but I think I can walk for a while.”
“Good. We need to see if we can get across the river. It would be the most direct line to Highway 186. We’re kind of trapped here and thanks to my trip back to the village, they know we’re not too far away.”
They loaded up the blanket and water bottles and headed toward the river. They weren’t very far away, but by the time they reached the water’s edge, Jessica could see Megan was already exhausted. She helped ease Megan down on a log and they both watched in silence as Jack tested the current.
With one step into the river, he was already in up to his waist. He struggled to take another step and nearly lost his footing. As he tried to turn back around, he was pushed several yards downstream, but managed to regain his balance.
Jessica jumped to her feet and raced to the bank. She grabbed on to a sturdy branch and leaned out toward Jack as far as she could. Their fingers were still several feet from touching, so there was no way she could reach him. Jack shuffled closer to the bank, but she was still unable to grasp his hand.
Jack stood still in the current, trying to keep from going down. The water was moving so fast he wasn’t sure how much longer he’d be able to fight it. He wasn’t afraid of drowning, but he didn’t want to scare Jessica and Megan. If he went down, he would just work with the current. He was confident he could ease his way out downstream, but if he was gone too long Jessica and Megan might panic and try to look for him and they could get separated.
“Here, hold this limb out to him with both hands and lay on your belly. I’m not very strong right now, but I can sit on your butt to keep you from getting pulled in,” Megan said.
Jessica grabbed the thick stick firmly in both hands and lay down on the bank. Megan sat on her and the weight took her breath away. Even though she looked slim, Megan was tall and muscular, and her weight was more than enough to pin Jessica in place.
“Grab hold,” she shouted to Jack.
He clutched the limb and as Jessica tugged, it gave him just enough extra pull to help him fight his way to the bank. He grabbed on to whatever he could reach and struggled against the current until he was on dry ground. He rolled over, gasping for breath.
“We’ll need to find a bridge,” he panted, then fell silent.
Megan scooted off Jessica and lay on her back. She faced skyward with her eyes closed. In minutes, she had drifted off to sleep.
Jessica managed to roll over, but didn’t move any further as she tried to calm her elevated pulse. The sun felt good and its warm rays soaked into her aching limbs as she stared up into the blue sky. Jessica listened to the birds for a while and then eased herself up to a sitting position.
She stared at the river and cringed. It had been deceiving. The water was deep, but the current hadn’t looked strong. She had been nervous about crossing and figured they could probably swim it if it was too deep to walk, but there was no way they would be reaching the other side, even if Megan hadn’t been weakened by malaria.
Jessica glanced at Megan and could tell she had fallen asleep. She was amazed at how well Megan had been sleeping under the circumstances, and with the parasites also draining her strength, she was almost asleep on her feet.
Her gaze left Megan and came to rest on Jack. His eyes were closed and he didn’t move. She peered closely, but couldn’t see him breathing, which terrified her. He seldom slept, even at night, so she doubted he could have fallen asleep within fifteen minutes of lying in the sun.
Jessica quietly rose to her feet and crept over to Jack. If he was sleeping, she didn’t want to disturb him, because he needed the rest. She knelt down beside him, but still couldn’t see his chest move. She leaned closer and turned her head to listen.
His arms snaked up, wrapped around her and flipped her before she could register that he was indeed alive and had been sleeping. As she landed on her back, the motion knocked the wind out of her. Jessica gasped for breath. Jack straddled her and pinned her arms above her head, his eyes dark and dangerous. His expression sent fear coursing through her body.
“You shouldn’t sneak up on people when they’re resting.” He released her wrists.
“I’m sorry. I couldn’t see you breathing. I thought you were dead.”
“And, why would I be dead?” Irritation tainted his voice.
“I don’t know, maybe some deadly snake bit you while you were in the water. All I know is you seldom sleep and it didn’t look like you were breathing. I was scared.”
Jack combed his fingers through his hair and looked up at the sky. He wondered if he would ever be able to sleep without nightmares or live like a normal person. He hated hearing every noise and sleeping so close to the surface that true rest seldom came. What if he had hurt her? He never would’ve forgiven himself.
He looked down into her eyes and the fear was still there. He wasn’t sure if she was afraid for him or if she was afraid of him. The possibility of the later tore at his heart.
He scooted off Jessica and pulled her up into his lap. She was trembling, so he wrapped his arms tightly around her and whispered into her ear. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you and I never want to hurt you.”
Jack continued to hold her as he watched Megan sleep. He couldn’t help but wonder what they were going to do. He wasn’t even sure anymore how long they’d been missing and with each day that passed it looked less and less as if they could possibly survive. He knew what kind of skills and training their pursuers possessed, but that knowledge did little good when the odds were stacked so greatly against them.
When Jessica stopped shaking and looked up at him, he could see the fear was gone, the look replaced by emptiness. He wasn’t sure which was worse. When he first met her she had been angry, feisty, confident, and he had even seen glimpses of happiness, now she ju
st looked beaten down. He brushed the hair out of her eyes and ran a rough hand along her cheek. He felt a need to explain.
“I spent eight years in the military as an Amy Ranger. Most of it was a good experience and I learned a lot, but I was on one mission that went wrong—very wrong.”
Still nestled in his arms, his grip on her tightened to the point it was no longer comfortable, but she said nothing. Jessica sensed he had gone far away, so she sat quietly and waited for him to continue.
“We were sent to evac some foreign aid workers out of two small remote villages in Liberia. The civil war was out of control and there was no way to get them out by road. No danger had been detected as our two Black Hawks landed. We quickly loaded up the civilians and had just taken off when our helicopter was hit by a shoulder-fired missile. The other Black Hawk was already in the air and heading out. At that point, there was nothing they could do to keep us from going down and they had civilians on board, so they left the area, dodging an onslaught of missile and gunfire as they went.”
Jessica wanted to reach out to him, but didn’t want him to stop. Jack said so little she felt this might be her only opportunity to learn what was troubling this complex man.
“The pilot and all four civilians aboard died on impact. Our four-member team survived the crash, only to be captured before we could get away. We were given no food or water and beaten with a length of chain for what seemed like around the clock, for several days. Our captors cut off the arm of one of the members of our team, which was a pretty common practice among some of the rebels. We were forced to watch him slowly bleed to death. Eventually, we managed to escape, but were hunted mercilessly. We eluded the bastards and destroyed one of the ruling warlord’s training camps, but it was little vindication for what had happened. By the time we were able to tie in with some peace-keeping troops, one more of us had been killed. Out of the nine people on our helicopter only two survived, myself and Ted Martin. I’m thankful there was at least one other survivor, but still after all these years I question why I lived when so many didn’t.”
